Truly Insane Statements About Birth Control, Brought to You by Hobby Lobby and Its Supporters

One of the best parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the guarantee that women receive health insurance coverage for all FDA-approved methods of birth control (including education and counseling) without deductibles or copays. But as noted in the March 2014 issue of Glamour, some companies are using their own religious stance against birth control to try to take this benefit away. More than 100 lawsuits have been filed in federal court challenging the birth control coverage benefit. This spring, the Supreme Court will review cases brought by two companies: Hobby Lobby (a crafts chain based in Oklahoma) and Conestoga Wood Specialties (a custom wood cabinetry business based in Pennsylvania). The Hobby Lobby hearing is on March 25. In short, these for-profit companies (which are not officially affiliated with any churches) want to deny their employees access to specific forms of birth control through their insurance plans. While they are fine with providing coverage for the types of birth control that prevent conception, like the Pill, they object to emergency contraception and IUDs. The National Women's Law Center reviewed and shared quotes from briefs filed with the Supreme Court by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga supporters who felt they had

One of the best parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the guarantee that women receive health insurance coverage for all FDA-approved methods of birth control (including education and counseling) without deductibles or copays. But as noted in the March 2014 issue of Glamour, some companies are using their own religious stance against birth control to try to take this benefit away. More than 100 lawsuits have been filed in federal court challenging the birth control coverage benefit. This spring, the Supreme Court will review cases brought by two companies: Hobby Lobby (a crafts chain based in Oklahoma) and Conestoga Wood Specialties (a custom wood cabinetry business based in Pennsylvania). The Hobby Lobby hearing is on March 25.

The National Women's Law Center reviewed and shared quotes from briefs filed with the Supreme Court by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga supporters who felt they had bearing on the case. The quotes provide a mind-blowing look into how some conservative parties, organizations, and executives view women, and they are pretty painful to read:

Birth Control Makes You Less of a Person

"Thus, it has come to pass that the widespread use of contraceptives has indeed harmed women physically, emotionally, morally, and spiritually—and has, in many respects, reduced her to the mere instrument for the satisfaction of [man's] own desires." —The American Freedom Law Center

Sex Is as Unessential as Bowling or Stamp Collecting

"Second, contraceptives may be considered no true necessity under certain circumstances, since sexual relations are basically a voluntary activity. If sexual relations were a true human need like breathing or food, then Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and many of the popes, would have all dropped dead within a few weeks (or days) of becoming celibate. But they didn't, since sex is only a human want (like bowling or stamp collecting), not an actual need." —David Boyle, a California attorney who submitted a brief on his own behalf

Contraception Makes You Promiscous

"The Institute of Medicine Committee's message is unmistakable. Female sexual activity without risk of pregnancy is to be encouraged by the contraceptive mandate," not only by making a wide range of contraceptives available, but by an education and counseling program designed to ensure that more and more women do not get pregnant unless 'at the point of conception' they want to." — from a brief signed by Eberle Communications Group, Inc., D&D Unlimited Inc., Joyce Meyer Ministries, Southwest Radio Bible Ministry, Daniel Chapter One, U.S. Justice Foundation, Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall, Institute on the Constitution, Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, Abraham Lincoln Foundation, Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Policy Analysis Center (Yes, all these groups stand behind that statement.)

In related news of horrible things, the Michigan "rape insurance" law went into effect on Thursday. Signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder, the new policy means that private health insurance plans can't cover abortion services. That's right: The insurers are literally *not allowed *to cover abortion, unless the insured buys a separate rider from her plan ahead of time—if she can find it. (Most providers don't plan to offer it, and according to the Detroit Free Press, no insurance companies will be providing the riders to new customers.) Even if a woman is raped (which is why opponents are calling it "rape insurance"), her regular insurance plan can't cover an abortion. She now has to pay out-of-pocket, which can be a debilitating expense for many women at an already trying time.